Journeyperson Spotlight: Josiah Venter of Ro-Jo Farms

Josiah Venter (right) with friend and business partner Toby Fischer

Last week we announced the 3 newly accepted farmers of the 2 year Journeyperson program with CT NOFA which helps beginning farmers in their most formative years. Today we shine the spotlight on Josiah Venter of Ro-Jo Farms in Bethany, CT! 

Inspiring Farmers in the Northeast at our 32nd Annual Winter Conference!

Swift Farms sold their amazing bees wax products

I don’t know about you, but the staff at CT NOFA is still bathing in the afterglow of an inspiring and successful Winter Conference!

The 32nd annual Winter Conference was held at Western Connecticut State University this past Saturday, March 1st and had over 900 people in attendance, a new record! The day started with attendees gathering in our vendor area where they were able to fill their free CT NOFA tote bags with literature and goodies from educational exhibitors, local farmers, and crafters! (A full list of vendors and exhibitors from the day can be found at HERE)

Nature's Medicine

The winter nose drip getting you down?  
Has persistent coughing or a sore throat been making you agitated? 

Leigh White is to the rescue, presenting her workshop Kitchen as Medicine Cabinet: Using Food for Acute Illnesses at the 32nd Annual Winter Conference on March 1st. Acknowledging the incredibly innate healing power of nature and how individuals can help restore their bodies to a state of homeostasis through this power is White's speciality. There are an influx of herbs, roots and flowers growing in our very own backyards that can make us feel balance within our bodies again! If you are interested in learning how to utilize those seemingly mundane ingredients in your kitchen for medicinal value, this workshop is for you!

Last Minute Winter Recipes for Thanksgiving!

You know you support your farmers around Thanksgiving when....

• You get a thrill hunting for the perfect butternut squash at the farmers market
• You visited your local farm MONTHS ago to reserve your holiday turkey
• You take a trip to High Hill Orchard to pick delicious apples for your homemade pies
• You are counting down the days to crack open the hard cider you have been fermenting for what seems like forever
• You have mapped out the days cooking schedule down to the minute

nom nom nom nom 

Show your family members who's boss when it comes to holiday cooking with a few of CT NOFA's favorite recipes for these cold months ahead.

My thanksgiving line-up wouldn't be complete without the Kale and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes made fresh with the recipe from Wild Carrot Farm. 

Click "read more" for the full recipe!

The Triumphs and Disasters in Home Gardening from the Staff at CT NOFA

Executive Director, Eileen Hochberg, discusses fighting worms for her brussels sprouts!
"This year for the first time ever absolutely everything in my vegetable garden was started from seed - organic seed of course. Being a lover of all brassicas, most notably kale,
  I just had to take on another favorite, the biggest brassica challenge of all - brussels sprouts. In so doing I now realize that successfully growing brussels is a nearly year long endeavor. Having planted the seeds inside in February, I am still nurturing the plants and still fighting the cabbage worms, as I hear the brussels will improve with frost and can be left growing until November. I have to add that cabbage worms have been my biggest trial and tribulation of the season, and since the garden is filled with brassicas that has meant a real fight to determine who gets to the kale, broccoli...and brussels....first. Never again will I plant without row cover in the spring to ward off the army of cross-striped cabbage worms that followed the green cabbage worms and then the green cabbage worms that followed the cross-striped!" 

Become a Volunteer with CT NOFA!

CT NOFA needs you!

A message from Debra Sloane, the CT NOFA Board Member Responsible for Volunteers:

This could be you!

CT NOFA is actively recruiting volunteers to be part of a sustainable team committed to supporting the incredibly wide array of events and activities we sponsor and get involved with throughout the year. Only with your support can we continue to be a dynamic and growing organization able to participate in all of the state’s events and programs committed to organic farming and organic food. That’s why we need you to be part of our volunteer team!

Please plan on joining us at either one of our two upcoming volunteer training sessions:

Sunday, April 7, 2013
3:00 – 6:00 PM
Auerfarm, Bloomfield CT

Monday, April 8, 2013
5:30 – 8:30 PM
New Morning Market, Woodbury CT

The agenda will be the same at both events and food and drinks will be served. Please join us at the date and time that suits your schedule by registering HERE.

Your commitment to our volunteer team is essential to helping CT NOFA reach the

entire state with our message. We will have opportunities for you to be active throughout the year to help strengthen and grow our membership base and support the CT NOFA vision. Our plan is to become a regular presence at various farmers markets, open farm days, conferences, fairs and to provide informational brochures to a targeted set of natural food stores and CSAs. We will support you with training and mentoring so that you are comfortable with your role and so that you look forward to your volunteer commitment.

Volunteering with CT NOFA is fun!  Depending on what's happening at the time, you might be able to visit farmers markets, table at expos and symposiums, or learn new computer skills.  As someone who has done all of those things and more with CT NOFA, I can say that it's a great way to grow, meet amazing people, and have a great time!  Again, if you'd like to get involved, sign up for one of the training sessions online here.

Have a great evening,
Melissa

Tomorrow is the first day of fall!

Fall is upon us in Connecticut - which is one of the greatest times to visit and support Connecticut's farms!  Connecticut's farmers market season continues through the fall, into October, and sometimes November (and at some markets - all winter, check if there's a year round market near you!)  Look at all the crops available in September and October in Connecticut!

Many farms and towns in the state are also celebrating the fall harvest season, check out our (incomplete) list of upcoming agricultural events:

September 21-23 & October 6
51st Chrysanthemum Festival
Bristol

September 21-23
Guilford Fair

Guilford

September 23 12:00pm - 4:00pm 

The Nutmegger Cheese and Wine Festival
Hosted by Jones Family Farms in Shelton
Proceeds support the Working Lands Alliance

September 27-30

93rd Durham Fair
Durham

September 28 - October 7 (2 weekends)
Apple Harvest Festival

Southington

October 5-7
Berlin Fair

Berlin

October 7
Downtown Country Fair
Windham
*Attend the Downtown Country Fair to learn about opportunities to join Community Supported Agriculture at Connecticut NOFA's CSA Fair!

October 12-14
The Portland Fair
Portland

October 13

Photo Credit: Hartford Courant

Fourth Annual Family Fun Day at Massaro Farm

Woodbridge

October 13
Sullivan Farm Fall Festival
Sullivan Farm
New Milford

October 28
Phillips Farm Fun Day
Southbury

Check out ctvisit.com for a list of fall fairs which celebrate Connecticut agriculture, foods, and crafts!
Visit the Department of Agriculture's agritourism page to find fall activities at a farm near you including PYO apples and pumpking. For corn mazes, you can look at this list of Connecticut's corn mazes (also not an exhaustive list).

You can also search for all of this on BuyCTGrown.com. This search site will also give you a thorough list of farms with the produce you need for this fall's apple crisp, pumpkin pie, and jack-o-lanterns!  Just type in your zipcode and which product you're looking for (you can even search for 'corn mazes') and narrow down the results by choosing specific kinds of farms and markets!

Happy Autumn Everyone!
Kristiane

The NOFA Summer Conference

Melissa and I were lucky enough to go to the NOFA Summer Conference last weekend.  We had never been before, but both have worked with NOFA for a little while now, and were pretty excited to see what it was all about.  

Unfortunately, for us, and hundreds of other conference goers, Friday was a day of torrential rain, flooding, high winds and tornado sirens.  We missed the Friday afternoon workshop session because the weather delayed us so much, but we finally settled in an headed off to our first workshop.

I have some pretty sad blueberry bushes in my back yard (with a yield of three blueberries this summer, though it is their first summer in my yard) and wanted to maybe add some other fruit bushes (since I'm clearly such a successful fruit grower), so I went to "Growing Raspberris Organically" with Tom Johnson who manages Silferleaf Farm, a family farm that has grown raspberries for 30 years. Tom discussed the difference between summer and fall bearing raspberries (he has fall-bearing plants on his own farm). He discussed raspberry varieties and what microclimates and sites for which they were appropriate.  Raspberries like slightly acidic soil and in the summer like to get 1" of rain per week.  Tom discussed the benefits of mulching along with the potential consequences, pruning, harvest, storage, sale and the benefits of Pick-Your-Own.
After the workshop we ate an all organic, mostly local dinner in the UMass Dining Hall and ran into many of our NOFA-related friends and co-workers. When we came out from this delicious dinner, we found that it was no longer raining, but that it was a rather beautiful evening

After dinner we headed to the student center for the NOFA Annual Meeting and Keynote Address.  I apologize for the quality of these photos, they're mostly the backs of heads . . .  Anyways, after some business, a number of NOFA Interstate Council Members sang (as you see below) a clever song about GMOs and how brilliant it was to engineer infertile seeds that grow corn and soy with pesticides inside of them.  It can be difficult to be humorous about the topic of GMO Contamination, but they succeeded, (remember, many NOFA Chapters signed onto the lawsuit against Monsanto).

After the barbershop quartet, Bill Duesing, CT NOFA's Executive Director and the President of the Interstate Council gave a brief history lesson about NOFA and reminded everyone in the audience about NOFA's strong presence in the northeast.  NOFA has been providing support for organic farmers, education for consumers, and instruction for gardeners for forty years!  NOFA has had an undeniably strong presence in the Northeast's sustainable food movement, and we're not stopping any time soon.

Next, the keynote presenter, Representative Chellie Pingree from Maine was introduced.  Congresswoman Pingree is from North Haven, Maine, where she has a farm and now an inn with a local restaurant. She is on the Agricultural Committee in the House and is one of few that represents the interests of small farms, organic farms and New England farms.  She introduced the the Local Food, Farms, and Jobs Act,to support the local-food movement. It has over 65 cosponsors in the House and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio has introduced a companion bill, S.1773, in the Senate.  Congresswoman Pingree was blunt about the frustrating atmosphere in Washington D.C., and the amplified voice the money gives Big Ag over All-Other-Kinds-Of-Ag.  She explained that the grassroots education of consumers that increases demand for local and organic foods is a vital step to creating policy that benefits small, sustainable producers.  She is encouraged because, as she said "We are at  level of interest that is unprecedented in the work we are doing."

The next day was more workshops! First thing in the morning was "Introduction to Edible Forest Gardening" with Connor Stedman.  This workshop was mostly about permaculture, and was fascinating.  Connor first compared America's food system (where 16 calories are expended to grow, process and transport food for every calorie consumed) to ancient forest gardens maintained by Native Americans and South Americans, including the Mayans.  Luckily the solution is pretty simple: home gardens can be thirty times as productive as monoculture crops like soy, corn and wheat. 

For gardening in the forest, Connor recommended planting ramps, ginseng and goldenseal, and shiitake.  For gardening like the forest, that is creating a garden-ecosystem fit for your microclimate that provides food for you as well as animals and pollinators.  To do this you should consider several design principles: everything you plant should have multiple functions, there must be a functional interconnection (where one plant creates waste that another uses for food),  plants can catch and store energy, you should use edges and margins.  He recommended using polycultures (like the Three Sisters of beans, corn and squash) to optimize plants' functions as food crops, nitrogen fixers, pest confusers, beneficiary insect magnets, wildlife habitat and dynamic nutrient accumulators (some plants, like comfrey, accumulate multiple micronutrients in the soil around them). 

After this workshop we went outdoors for a Medicinal Herb Walk with Brittany Wood Nickerson, an herbalist, and owner of Thyme Herbal.  On the walk we learned about beneficial uses for broadleaf plantain (which can be found in your lawn), dandelion, ground ivy and blue vervain. Below, Brittany shows us water hemlock, which can look like wild carrot and other members of the parsley family, but is very poisonous. 

After the workshop we admired this cow which had been brought on campus for children to learn about in one of the several children's workshops . . . but people of all ages have to like cows.

After lunch the final workshop Melissa and I attended was "Radical Kitchens" with Adrie Lester, a co-owner of the Wheatberry and Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA.  She discussed planning meals, preparing extra food in advance, how to make every meal, snack and drink, multiple uses for leftover ingredients, and how to make your own condiments.  The main message was that, with some careful planning, it can be just as "convenient" to create large, healthy meals if you have many of your ingredients ready (like frozen vegetable broth in the freezer, frozen dough for bread, muffins, a huge pot of rice and/or beans, frozen fruit, canned tomatoes, etc.).

Despite some pouring rain during that workshop, Melissa and I had a safe, easy ride home with minimal windshield wiper use, and we heard that Sunday was a great day at the conference.  If you've never been, it is really worth it.  The variety of workshops, quality of speakers, and wonderful company of farm and food lovers will make it a weekend you look forward to each year.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Kristiane

Last Chance to Register for CT NOFAs First Block Party on the Farm

Meet Dina and tour the farm! It's not too late to register for CT NOFA's Block Party on the Farm at The Hickories!    June 23, 2012  6pm-9pm The Hickories 126 Lounsbury Road Ridgefield, CT The Block Party is in celebration of CT NOFA's first thirty years of advocacy for local farms and kicking off our next thirty years in support of Connecticut agriculture. Online registration has closed, but you can still sign up by calling us at 203.888.5146 through Thursday.  Come relax on a summer's evening with friends and neighbors while enjoying delicious food, wine, and beer! Give tickets as a gift for a friend and you'll be giving a gift to CT NOFA as well! Join us for: A Wine Tasting by Cellar XV  Beer samples from Southport Brewing Company  Dinner from the Taco Pacifico Truck Dessert from The Cake Box  Organic tea from Steaz  Music by Jon Baurfeld Music  A farm tour of The Hickories led by Connecticut farmer, Dina Brewster  A talk about sustainable food production and the future of Connecticut local agriculture from Bill Duesing, our Executive Director, long-time local food activist, and farmer. A summer celebration on the farm with new and old friends, music and good food.  We hope to see you there! Call 203-888-5146 to buy tickets ($40 each).

A Recipe Finder with Built-In Price Estimator and Nutrition Facts

The SNAP-Ed Connection recently released a new resource that anyone can use to find healthy, affordable recipes, regardless of whether or not they are using the SNAP Program. The new Build a Cookbook feature added to the SNAP-Ed Connection Recipe Finder allows users to create a personalized cookbook from any of the nearly 600 low cost, healthy recipes in the Recipe Finder. You can also choose one of the fixed cookbook options that use pre-selected recipes from categories such as children’s favorites, older adults, or fruit and veggie recipes.

All recipes are nutritious and budget friendly, include cost and nutrition information, and are available in English and Spanish. Users can search for recipes by ingredient, recipe name, menu item and cost, as well as a variety of other search options including audience, cooking equipment required, and nutrition education topic. You can also rate each recipe and view ratings from others.

This is a great resource if you've ever found yourself wanting to cook something but are concerned about what the total cost will be.  If you are cooking for a larger group, cost can be especially important, so this is a good way to estimate your total cost ahead of time and budget accordingly.  This is also a good search engine if you want to see the nutrition facts of what you're cooking.  What a convenient way to keep track of what is in your food!

And if you want to save your recipes in a cookbook, you can enter a cookbook title, choose a cover design, and personalize it with your name and/or organization. Completed cookbooks will be available as a PDF file for viewing and printing. Get started building your new cookbook today at Recipe Finder!

How to Make the Most of Marketing Your Farm

Cranberry Hill Farm at the market

We started our Beginning Women Farmers Program in an effort to educate and connect farmers who are just starting out so that they can be successful selling the products they offer.  At the Beginning Women Farmer Conference on March 22-23 in Amherst, MA, beginning and established farmers alike came from all over to hear experts in the field speak about how to successfully run a farming operation.  One of our past member farmers, Sherry Simpson of Cranberry Hill Farm, shared her marketing expertise in a recent article by one of our Accredited Organic Land Care Professionals, Sanne Kure-Jensen.  Sherry's advice makes marketing a farm or related business much less overwhelming.  Here are some key points to get started:

[Sherry's] three-step approach was simple, inexpensive and successful: Tell your story, Create a logo and Accessorize. Everything the consumer experiences, from the way your phone is answered, your business card, Farmers’ Market display or website, to a story in the paper is part of your business marketing. Make sure the message says what you want it to say.

Tell Your Story
“You are Local!” said Simpson. Be sure you remind customers and sell your farm and farm family. Tell what you grow and how; explain why are you a farmer and when you started farming. Assume that your customers are not home gardeners and will need details.

Create a Logo
Design a logo and use it on everything. Make it simple and clear. To improve your credibility, use every appropriate partner logo on your brochures, fliers, website and Facebook page. Include your state department of agriculture logo, Harvest New England and Slow Food USA. If you are a member of NOFA, a Chamber of Commerce or other associations, include their logo as well. Be sure to request permission from the organization and have them send you a high resolution image rather than just pulling it from their websites.

Accessorize
Create business cards, product signs, tri-fold brochures, rack cards and signs. Each spring, or for special events, print and mail post cards. Place your Farmers’ Market or Farm Stand hours in the free calendar listings in your local newspaper, Patch and other online calendars. Check with your local or state Visitors’ Bureau, tourism office or Chamber of Commerce to investigate their listing options. Establish a presence on the internet. Take advantage of all the free listings you can: your state’s department of agriculture and any member associations you belong to like a livestock association or Chamber of Commerce.

And that's only a small taste of the wealth of knowledge Sherry offers in her article.  We are always trying to get the word out about tips to help farmers be successful, so if you have any information you think other farmers would like to know about, send us an email and we'll review it to post on the blog!

Best of luck with your marketing!
-Melissa

Our first Block Party is less than two weeks away!

June 23, 2012
The Hickories
Ridgefield, CT
6:00-9:00pm   

 

CT NOFA is turning 30 this year! Join us in a kickoff to celebrate the next 30 years of great food, fun, and community! We will be holding several parties throughout the summer, with our first to be held at The Hickories farm in Ridgefield. Farmer Dina Brewster will be your host and there will be a guided farm tour, a wine tasting by Cellar XV and very hip food truck dinner catered by Taco Pacifico.

Dessert will be provided by The Cake Box, along with local brewery samples from Southport Brewing Company. Organic teas will be supplied by Steaz. The night will include live music by Jon Bauerfeld. Our beloved Executive Director, Bill Duesing, will be there to greet and talk to all about the importance of our local community.

Dina Brewster on her farm.

 

Tickets for this exciting evening are $40 each. Online registration is available HERE or just call 203-888-5146 to reserve yours today. What a great way to spend a summer's evening, on the farm with friends and neighbors enjoying live music and tasty local food!

 

And just in case you want to have your cake and eat it too, if you volunteer with us for the event, you can get in for free! Come in and set up before and during the event to have your ticket price waived. What a deal! Volunteer space is limited, however, so contact Melissa today for details about how you can get involved.

CT NOFA is having a PARTY

And you're invited!

Join CT NOFA in celebrating it's past thirty years and the next thirty! We are coming together at The Hickories to enjoy:

• Dinner from Taco Pacifico Truck
• A Wine Tasting courtesy of Cellar XV
• Beer from Southport Brewing Company
• Iced Tea from Steaz
• Desert from The Cake Box
• Live music
• A farm tour with Dina Brewster

We will have three more block parties coming up, so if Ridgefield isn't convenient for you, just save one of our upcoming dates!  (Saturday, July 14, 2012, Hidden Brook Gardens in Ledyard and Saturday, September 15, 2012, Urban Oaks Organic Farm in New Britain).

Register online here!

Best,
Kristiane

What grocery brands contain genetically modified ingredients?

If you shop regularly in the grocery store, you might wonder how you can avoid genetically modified organisms if they don't have required labeling. Unfortunately, without buying exclusively organic it's impossible to know 100% of the time, but there are easy steps you can take to be more certain.

True Food Now has released this shopping guide that gives tips and information on foods found in grocery stores based on category (meat, fish, fruits, grains, etc) and includes listings of commonly found brands of foods that are organic or may contain genetically modified ingredients.  You my not have the freedom of a labeling system at your disposal, but you can greatly reduce your risk of eating genetically modified foods if you know what foods have the greatest risk of containing gm ingredients.

As always, buying local and organic skips the whole necessity for labels, because you can just ask your farmer if what they are growing suits your needs. Check out our website for listings of farmers markets where you can buy CT NOFA farmer organic produce.

Have an informed week,
Melissa

Gardening in the Shade

When CT NOFA tables at farmers markets and other environmental events, a lot of people drop by the table and ask questions about gardening.  The complaint we hear so often is about gardening in the shade.  At-home food production is good for the planet and good for you, but so are the trees in your yard!  Many are turning to community gardens which have full sun, which is a great idea.  But even shady yards can have significant food production! Here is an article from Mother Earth News about gardening in the shade, and a list of the more shade tolerant veggies you can grow:

Crop	Shade Notes	Growing Tips
Arugula	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Arugula welcomes shade, as this crop is prone to bolting as soon as the weather turns warm if in full sun.
Asian greens	At least two hours of sun per day.	Asian greens such as bok choi (also spelled “pac choi” and “pak choi”), komatsuna and tatsoi will grow wonderfully with a couple hours of sun plus some bright shade or ambient light.
Chard	If you grow chard mainly for its crisp stalks, you will need at least five hours of sun per day; if you grow it mainly for the tender baby leaves, three to four hours of sun per day will be enough.	Expect chard grown in partial sade to be quite a bit smaller than that grown in full sun. Baby chard leaves are excellent cooked or served raw in salads.
Culinary herbs	At least three hours of sun per day.	While many culinary herbs need full sun, chives, cilantro, garlic chives, golden marjoram, lemon balm, mint, oregano and parsley will usually perform well in shadier gardens.
Kale	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	You'll notice only a small reduction in growth if comparing kale grown in partial shade with kale grown in full sun.
Lettuce	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Lettuce is perfect for shadier gardens because the shade protects it from the sun’s heat, preventing it from bolting as quickly. Often, the shade can buy a few more weeks of harvesting time that you’d get from lettuce grown in full sun.
Mesclun	One of the best crops for shady gardens. Grows in as little as two hours of sun per day and handles dappled shade well.	The delicate leaves of this salad mix can be harvested in about four weeks, and as long as you leave the roots intact, you should be able to get at least three good harvests before you have to replant.
Mustard greens	At least three hours of sun per day for baby mustard greens.	Mustard grown for baby greens is best-suited for shady gardens.
Peas and beans	At least four to five hours of sun.	If growing these crops in partial shade, getting a good harvest wil take longer. Try bush and dwarf varieties rather than pole varieties.
Root vegetables	At least four to five hours of sun per day for decent production.	Beets, carrots, potatoes, radishes and turnips will do OK in partial shade, but you'll have to wait longer for a full crop. The more light you have, the faster they'll mature. Alternatively, you can harvest baby carrots or small new potatoes for a gourment treat that would cost an arm and a leg at a grocery store.
Scallions	At least three hours of sun per day.	This crop does well in partial shade throughout the growing season.
Spinach	At least three to four hours of sun per day.	Spinach welcomes shade, as it bolts easliy if in full sun. If you grow it specifically to harvest as baby spinach, you'll be able to harvest for quite a while as long as you continue to harvest the outmost leaves of each plant.

Many of these crops will grow more slowly in the shade, but you'll still ultimately have some homegrown produce - which is always better than none!
Happy gardening!
Kristiane

P.S. Visit our table this weekend at the Urban Oaks Green Faire (and meet our new intern Maya!) or the Girlscout Jamboree in Durham, CT.

Our New Guide to Organic Land Care is in!

This is a view of the lower level of our office building with our new shipment of 2012-2013 Guides to Organic Land Care.  Hopefully it won't get too cold for a while because it looks like we won't be using that stove for a few months.

As you know, last month we received a shipment for the first of our two printed Guides, the 2012-2013 Farm and Food Guide, which provides information by county of our member farms, farmers markets, csa programs, supporting businesses, community farms, and community gardens.  Yesterday, our second Guide developed by the NOFA Organic Land Care Program was completed and brought back to the office!  The 2012-2013 Guide to Organic Land Care provides course information, local pesticide info, and AOLCP listings by state and county, as well as a large number of feature articles and book excerpts about pest control, compost, rain gardens, and much more. The Guide is a great resource to help you find Accredited Organic Land Care Professionals in your area who can help you maintain your property without the use of harmful chemicals.  If you are an Accredited Professional, this is a great way to advertise yourself as part of a large and influential community of sustainable landscapers while also providing helpful tips to homeowners and groundskeepers on how to organically maintain their land.

You can order a copy of the Guide to Organic Land Care for just $2 to cover the cost of shipping, and if you visit us at one of our outreach events, you can pick up a copy for free!  To order larger quantities of the Guide for distribution, contact the CT NOFA office at 203-888-5146 or e-mail ctnofa@ctnofa.org.  A PDF of the Guide will also be available online shortly.  

Have a lovely Thursday,
Melissa

The Kashi Lesson

The work of corporate watchdog groups, greater awareness, social media and a general skepticism of corporations are giving consumers more power to make ethical and environmental choices in their purchases.  Thank goodness for this, because federal and state governments seem to be shying away from any regulation of industry including food production and toxics reduction.

With 93% of Americans indicating that they believe genetically modified ingredients should be labeled, it is not surprising that Kashi's customers were especially enraged to find that Kashi's cereal ingredients are not nearly as "natural" as their marketing might have customers believe.  The cold cereals use genetically modified (the Roundup-ready variety) soy

Kashi defended itself by creating a video that explains that over 80% of crops are grown using GMO and that the issue is not Kashi's ingredient choices, but an environment where GMOs are not sufficiently controlled.  To give the impression that the use of GMOs is unavoidable is inaccurate.  Kashi announced that it will work with the Non-GMO Project to verify its cold cereals as "non-GMO" on its website this week.

People seem to care more and more about what's in their food, and companies that generally don't care about the ingredients (that means you McDonald's and Burger King) are responding and even preempting consumer disapproval by removing ingredients like pink slime and beginning to alter their meat sourcing based on animal welfare (they still have a long, long way to go).

So vote with your dollar and vote with your voice.  Social media seems to work, posts on Kashi's wall were powerful.  And if you question how "natural" something in your health food store is, you can probably talk to the owner about your concerns.  Most small, independently owned health food stores are concerned about these issues and responsive to their customers.  Removing Kashi from one store in Rhode Island was what ignited this whole conversation.

Read more about Kashi's GMO use exposure and their response:
http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2012/05/02/Kashi-GMO-Debate-050212.aspx
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/story/2012-04-29/kashi-natural-claims/54616576/1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/kashi-gmo-use-controversy_n_1456748.html

Best,
Kristiane

Gardening With Climate Change: Summer in February and Snow in April

With highs in the 80s in February, a two month drought, and April snow showers, how do you insure that there are May flowers?
First of all, you'll need to review the USDA's new Plant Hardiness Zone Map:

Remember, these changes in range indicate hanges in climate much more complex than the temperature increases.  While the new hardiness zones mean Connecticut gardeners can plant some warmer climate plants, it also means that the plants must be tolerant of extreme weather.
Visit the interactive USDA Hardiness Zone Map here.

As we've already seen in the month of April, climate change seems to take the form of long dry periods broken up by a few storms that produce a lot of precipitation - purchasing and installing a rain barrel can capture this excess precipitation for use during extended dry periods.  There are countless models of rain barrels,you can probably get them at your local garden center (including Home Depot) and they can be ordered online.
Organic matter like compost holds more moisture for longer periods of time, making it an ideal soil additive to fix moisture around your plants.  Plants spaced further apart are able to spread their roots more to seek out water in the soil.  Choose more drought resistant plants, and group plants that will require more water close together, so you only need to water a small area of your yard at a time.  Consider the microclimates in your yard - does water collect in a certain area of your yard? Put more water thirsty plants near these moist regions.
While drought is an issue, there are also some frost warnings for Connecticut tonight - you'll need to get your burlap/cloth/plastic/other plant coverings out!

This is a great information sheet for Connecticut Gardeners about how to plant for droughts and lists of drought-resistant plants: http://www.flowersplantsinct.com/pdf/Drought-Consumer.pdf

I also like this article from the UK about how gardens can mitigate some of the affects of climate change: http://www.myclimatechangegarden.com/blog/how-your-garden-can-help-beat-climate-change

Have a wonderful weekend,
Kristiane

Look out for the NEW 2012-2013 Farm and Food Guide!

Guess what Melissa is so excited about!

Well, she's excited because she has spent countless hours creating the 2012-2013 Farm and Food Guide and it is finally finished, but she's also excited because we have 10,000 copies in the office!  Our guide has grown to 54 pages and lists Connecticut NOFA’s 125 member farms and supporting businesses alphabetically by county.  The Guide also includes listings of farmers markets, community farms and community supported agriculture offerings.

To be listed in the guide, farms must be certified organic or sign CT NOFA’s Farmer’s Pledge agreeing to specific sustainable and ethical farming practices with the general goal of improving the land’s environmental and agricultural quality.  We are happy to welcome twenty-one new farms to our membership for the 2012-2013 Guide! Our supporting businesses sell products of our member farms or offer services for them. 

The guide includes information about food storage, winter food crops, recipes, community farms and gardens, farming and cooking resources and county maps of farm locations!  CT NOFA will be distributing the guide at events where we are tabling, but the guide is available to our partner organizations and businesses around Connecticut for distribution. 

The Guide to Organic Land Care, a publication that lists the NOFA Organic Land Care Professionals and provides articles and tips about organic land care, will be available in a month.  This publication will also be free for distribution by our organizational partners. 

To order guides for distribution, contact the CT NOFA office at 203-888-5146 or e-mail ctnofa@ctnofa.org.  You can also preview a pdf of the guide on our website: http://ctnofa.org/documents/ff_guide2012_web.pdf

Here's to Connecticut's farms and food!

Best,

Kristiane

Farmers Determined to Defend Right to Grow Food File Appeal in OSGATA vs. Monsanto

The CT NOFA Board voted on  March 18 to remain plaintiffs in the case against Monsanto through the appeal process! Read the press release from the Public Patent Foundation:

Battle over Farmers' Rights Against Monsanto Continues to Brew 

 NEW YORK - March 28, 2012 - Today, in Federal District Court in Manhattan, family farmers filed their Notice of Appeal to Judge Naomi Buchwald's February 24th ruling dismissing Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto.  The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will hear the farmers' appeal, seeking to reinstate the case, which has received worldwide attention. The farmers are determined to move forward with their lawsuit challenging Monsanto's patents on genetically engineered seed technologies in order to continue their pursuit of Declaratory Judgment Act court protection from Monsanto's claims of patent infringement should their crops become contaminated by Monsanto's seed.

"Farmers have the right to protect themselves from being falsely accused of patent infringement by Monsanto before they are contaminated by Monsanto's transgenic seed," said Dan Ravicher, Executive Director of the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT), a not-for-profit legal services organization based at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law that represents the plaintiffs. "Judge Buchwald erred by denying 

Jim Gerritsen

plaintiffs that right and they have now initiated the process of having her decision reversed."

The original complaint in OSGATA et al v. Monsanto was filed on March 29, 2011. In July, Monsanto filed a motion to dismiss.  Plaintiff lawyers at PUBPAT then filed a rebuttal brief on August 11, 2011. Judge Buchwald called for oral argument on the motion to dismiss, which was held in Manhattan on January 31, 2012.  The judge'sdismissal ruling was issued February 24th and plaintiffs were given thirty days in which to file their Notice of Appeal.

"Farmers are under threat.  Our right to farm the way we choose, and to grow

pure organic seed and healthy food on our farms for our families and for our customers is under assault," said Maine organic seed farmer Jim Gerritsen, President of lead Appellant OSGATA. "We are honor-bound to challenge an erroneous ruling which denies family farmers the protection the law says we deserve. We're not asking for one penny from Monsanto. Ultimately, our fight is for justice and is waged to defend the right of the people to have access to good and safe food."

  

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The Plaintiff/Appellant group is comprised of individual family farmers, small and family-owned seed companies and agricultural organizations.  They are all organic or committed to farming without using genetically engineered seeds, and have no desire to ever farm with Monsanto's patented GMO technology.  However, they are fearful that Monsanto seed will trespass onto their farms and that the resulting contamination of their crops will be viewed by Monsanto as illegal 'possession' resulting in patent infringement allegations. Monsanto's harassment of family farmers is well known in farm country, the biotech seed and chemical giant has one of the most aggressive patent assertion agendas in U.S. history. Between 1997 and 2010, Monsanto admits to filing 144 lawsuits against America's family farmers, while settling another 700 cases out of court for undisclosed amounts and imposing gag orders on farmers. The farmers' fears were heightened when Monsanto refused to provide a legally binding covenant not to sue, signaling Monsanto's intention to maintain their option to sue innocent family farmers in the future.

"America's farmers deserve to be protected under the law from the unwanted genetic contamination of their crops by Monsanto's flawed genetically engineered seed technology," said David Murphy, founder and Executive Director of Food Democracy Now!, an Iowa-based national advocacy organization of more than 300,000 members. "These farmers have no desire to use Monsanto's GMO seeds, yet they are forced into the untenable position of losing their right to farm in the manner in which they choose, face legal intimidation and the loss of economic livelihood, all because America's legal system has failed to adequately protect them from the real threat of genetic trespass that is inherent as a result of Monsanto's patented GMO seeds and the natural biological functions of cross pollination from wind, insects or animals."